Book Description
Growing a successful business is about meeting the needs of customers—and, by extension, the needs of the entire community. Turn your business into a good citizen and you can help ensure its success and contribute to making your community a great place to live and work. Growing Local Value shows how to build a values-driven business that is deeply embedded in local life.
Drawing on real-world examples from Greyston Bakery, Wild Planet Toys, Powell's Books, and many other companies, Laury Hammel and Gun Denhart show how you can leverage every aspect of your business—from product creation to employee recruitment, vendor selection, and raising capital—to benefit both the community and the bottom line. Growing Local Value explores in depth how your business can contribute to its community—and the benefits it will receive when it does.
Table of Contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Letter from the Editor of the Social Venture Network Series
- Acknowledgments
- INTRODUCTION Why local?
- 1 Customer and community first
- Partnering with Customers: The Longfellow Clubs, Wayland, Massachusetts
- An Idea Whose Time Had Not Come
- Balancing Pricing for Profit with Reaching a Broader Customer Base
- Best Practices in Partnering with Customers
- Take Care of Your Customer and Your Community: TAGS Hardware, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Personalizing Your Product: The King’s English Book Shop, Salt Lake City, Utah
- Connecting Customers with the Community: Joie de Vivre Hospitality, San Francisco, California
- Lessons Learned: Partnering with Customers
- 2 Values-based financing
- Sources of Capital
- Banks and Credit Unions
- Venture Capital, Private Equity, and Angels
- Nonprofits and Foundations
- City, County, State, and Federal Government Agencies
- Friends and Family
- Business Stakeholders
- Unconventional Financing
- Partnering with Investors: City Fresh Foods, Roxbury, Massachusetts
- Bootstrapping Is Tough Business
- Balancing the Needs of Entrepreneurs with the Needs of Financial Partners
- Best Practices in Partnering with Investors
- Partnering with Socially Conscious Investors: Small Potatoes Urban Delivery, Vancouver, British Columbia
- Partnering with a Local Bank Committed to the Community: ANSCO Real Estate, Chicago, Illinois
- Lessons Learned: Partnering with Investors
- 3 Partnering with your employees
- Partnering with Employees: The Greyston Bakery, Yonkers, New York
- When Expanding a Business, Add Expertise
- Balancing the Need for Technology with the Mission of Providing Jobs
- Best Practices in Partnering with Employees
- Building New Business: Zingerman’s Delicatessen, Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Creating an Employee-Owned Company: South Mountain Company, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
- Supporting Employees in Becoming Homeowners: Rejuvenation, Portland, Oregon
- Lessons Learned: Partnering with Employees
- 4 Business networking for local value
- Partnering with Other Businesses: The White Dog Cafe, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Don’t Order Your Chickens until the Financing Hatches
- Balancing Buying from Local Farmers with Maintaining Consistency and Efficiency
- Best Practices in Partnering with Other Businesses
- Promoting Local Agriculture: Higgins Restaurant, Portland, Oregon
- Building an Inner-City Business: Roxbury Technology Corporation, Boston, Massachusetts
- Lessons Learned: Partnering with Other Businesses
- 5 Creating partnerships with nonprofits
- Partnering with Nonprofits: Hanna Andersson, Portland, Oregon
- Apply Business Smarts to Your Giving
- Balancing Profitability with a Costly Social Mission Program
- Best Practices in Partnering with Nonprofits
- Adopting a Nonprofit: Wild Planet Toys, San Francisco, California
- Creating Horizons for Homeless Children: Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Boston, Massachusetts
- Cause-Related Marketing: Tom’s of Maine, Kennebunk, Maine
- Lessons Learned: Partnering with Nonprofits
- 6 Making sustainability your competitive advantage
- Partnering with the Environment: Gardener’s Supply, Burlington, Vermont
- It’s Not Good Business If It Doesn’t Make Money
- Balancing the Need for Marketing Materials with a Concern for Increasing the Waste Stream
- Best Practices in Partnering with the Environment
- Revitalizing and Preserving an Inner-City Neighborhood: Bazzani Associates, Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Producing and Processing Nutritious Food: Seven Stars Yogurt, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
- Lessons Learned: Partnering with the Environment
- 7 Collaborating with government
- Partnering with Government Agencies: The American Reading Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Partner with Those Who Have the Most at Stake
- Balancing Passion with Patience
- Best Practices in Partnering with Government Agencies
- Encouraging Children to Read More: Powell’s Books, Portland, Oregon
- Constructing an Environmentally Friendly Building: New Seasons Market, Portland, Oregon
- Moving People off Welfare and into Jobs That Pay a Living Wage: Cascade Engineering, Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Lessons Learned: Partnering with Government Agencies
- 8 Building a bridge to the future
- Building a Legacy and a Source of Community Pride
- Joining Together to Build a Better Community and a Better World
- Love
- Notes
- Suggested Reading
- Resources
- Index
- About Social Venture Network
- About the Authors